Loving this song

Discovered this song a few days ago. I'm not usually into Lisa Mitchell's music, but with drums added in, this song is so catchy. The video and lyrics are a bit spooky, but the song is in my head all day.

Christmas Fun!

I have totally neglected my blog lately - sorry! There has just been too much going on, but I always knew I could catch up sometime!

Here is a pic of my Christmas tree that I decorated all in red and white this year.

There were sweet gingham decorations, adorable toadstools, shiny apples, candy canes, striped ribbons, crocheted stars, wooden reindeer, handmade baubles, and many other red and white delights!

 The wrapping paper was all red and white too, (with a bit of green, silver and gold!)

Thanks and big hugs to all those people who sent us Christmas cards. We love you!

We had an awesome Christmas, and got to spend time with many of our loved ones.

Mum slept over on Christmas Eve and we had Christmas morning with her. Then we went to Jonathon's mum's house for a beautiful big lunch.

In the afternoon, we went to my sister Kristie's house for a scrumptious dinner. Lily was as cute as ever, especially giggling madly in her new swing.

It was a HOT day of about 38 degrees celcius!

I should have taken way more photos to remember all the wonderful elements of the day, but we did manage to coordinate a group photo (lots of silliness and crazy goings on were had while trying to get this shot!)

It was a fun, and happy day! Hope your Christmas was great!

Wooohooo!!!!!!!

I have been HANGING for this moment! I do love my job, BUT, the last five weeks of the year are just impossible!! So much to do, so little time.

Well the children finished today, so now we just have tomorrow, which involves a quick clean up, a morning tea to farewell staff moving on, and a staff luncheon that will go all afternoon.

All I can say is, Thank Goodness, because I am SHATTERED!!! When I've had a good sleep, I'll get back to you with pics of everything we've been doing lately!

My Boy Turned 12!

It was Jack's 12th birthday yesterday! He, and a bunch of friends, went to Darklight Laser Games for a party, and had a whale of a time.

There is a whole lot of Lego action going on in our house right now!

Happy Birthday, Jack!!!!!

Cute, Handmade Christmas Decorations

Just wanted to share one of my new favourite shops with you - kalaedoscope.

I admire the shop owner, Megan, because I know she is currently in the midst of writing reports, and STILL managed to open her own madeit store in time for Christmas! Megan is selling her crocheted Christmas stars, that look like this:

So gorgeous!

I just received the ones I bought, and they are cuter than cute! I couldn't resist the red and white ones, because I'm working on decorating our Christmas tree all in red and white this year.

Pop over to Megan's shop if you need some new, handmade Christmas decorations.

And, by the way, if you have a shop that sells red and white decorations let me know, and I might visit you too!

A Do-er-upper!

Not far on from the Pink lake at Port Gregory was a little place called Lynton, where a convict depot was built from 1853 -1856. We walked up the steep hill to have a look at the ruins of the once stately residence, Sanford's House, originally inhabited by Captain Henry Sanford, the Superintendent of the depot. I fell in love with the house and wished it had been restored, because we could only look through the windows. The views from the balcony were glorious!

This area is well known for its windswept trees. Many of them look like this one!

The Pink Lake

Just outside of Kalbarri, at Port Gregory, is a pretty pink lake, the Hutt Lagoon, which is pink because of a bacteria in the water. The bacteria is cultivated to produce beta-carotene, used as a source of Vitamin A and for natural food colouring.

An unusual, but awesome sight!

Final part of my Kalbarri Tourist Guide!

I've been raving about our Kalbarri trip for a month now, so I thought I better finish it up with a look at a few things you should do if you ever go to Kalbarri:

This is the pool at the Kalbarri beach Resort. Nice place to stay, and kids remember the sparkling water and the big swan. Also, Jake's Restaurant is next door which has a Sizzler's style menu, making it easy to please the kids.

The Shop Around the Corner is a gorgeous shop with a whole range of gifts, gift-wrapping supplies and a room dedicated to books. Loved it!

Red Frangipani is another gift shop with jewellery and books. LOVE the name!

And finally, I can't guarantee that you will see any wildlife, but these characters were by the side of the road, and when we stopped to take this pic they didn't even jump away. Check out the cute joey in the Mum's pouch!

Aquarium Visit

We stopped at the aquarium in Kalbarri and had a five minute look. (Really, it was a miniscule aquarium compared to Perth's Aqua, so that's how long it took.) Here are some of the shots:

If you want to see some AMAZING aquarium pictures go visit Poppyprint, because her pics are WAY more spectacular than mine and are taken at the Vancouver Aquarium!

Red Rocks

At the Kalbarri National Park (after a very long drive along dusty, bumpy roads), there are beautiful views and rock formations, the stand out one being Nature's Window. I love looking at these layered rocks:

There were sheer drops over the sides of these cliffs. I sooo should have been wearing different shoes!

The Tower

One more thing I want to share about the Rainbow Jungle is that there is a great tower,

 with magnificent views

of the beach,

the outdoor cinema,

and the distant cliffs.

Rainbow Jungle Art

As well as the colourful birds in my last post, there was also an art exhibition from some local artists and school children at the Rainbow Jungle in Kalbarri. The winged dolls were made by six year olds!